Soldier's funeral

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA — U.S. officials announced Thursday the capture of several top associates of deposed strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, including Israeli mercenary Mike Harari.

Noriega remained holed up in the Vatican Embassy for a fourth day.

The development came as the new government of President Guillermo Endara continued to extend its authority, reopening banks and receiving $6 million confiscated by American troops from Noriega's houses and safes.

The banks had been closed since U.S. forces invaded Panama Dec. 20, dismembering Noriega's 16,000-member Panama Defense Forces and triggering days of looting and chaos in the capital.

U.S. soldiers at the embassy continued to wage psychological warfare against Noriega by blaring rock music over loudspeakers and greeting him with a hearty ''Gooood morning, Panama,''

The dictator's small circle of supporters shrank with the reported capture or surrender of at least six top associates.

In Rome, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said he believed the fate of Noriega, who took refuge in the Papal Nunciature Christmas Eve, would be determined ''maybe in the next few days,'' as urgent negotiations continued ''at every level'' between the Vatican and United States.

According to Lt. Col. Jerry Murguia of the U.S. military's Panama-based Southern Command, Lt. Cols. Rafael Cedeno, Arnulfo Castrejon and Carlos Belarde walked out of the Vatican Embassy Wednesday and surrendered.

Cedeno was Noriega's personal assistant before taking over as military intelligence chief following a failed coup attempt Oct. 3. Castrejon, a Noriega spokesman who last served as navy chief, turned himself in to the new government's security force last weekend before seeking refuge at the papal nunciature, officials said. Belarde had been the PDF chaplain.

Also arrested by U.S. forces were Luis Gaspar Suarez, a former classmate of Noriega's at a military school in Peru, who ran a group of paramilitary toughs. Suarez was captured trying to leave the Cuban Embassy in a diplomatic car, a U.S. Embassy official said. U.S. forces have invoked what they say is a right to search vehicles entering and leaving diplomatic missions under an article of an international agreement covering wartime conditions.

U.S. official said Suarez was among about 65 people, including Noriega's wife, Felicidad, who sought asylum at the Cuban Embassy after the invasion. U.S. forces, which have surrounded the embassy with armored vehicles and blocked off streets near it with concertina wire, have been refusing to allow vehicles to enter or leave the premises without a search for weapons or non-diplomatic personnel.

Another pro-Noriega civilian arrested by U.S. forces was Rigoberto Paredes, who ran the district of Arraijan near the capital. Officials of the new government say he is wanted on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

Perhaps most satisfying to the Endara government was the arrest of Harari, a shadowy former officer of Israel's Mossad intelligence service who became one of Noriega's most influential advisors.

Besides maintaining lucrative business interests in Panama, he helped train Noriega's bodyguards and his elite Special Anti-Terror Unit.

No details were available on how Harari was captured. ''We have him,'' a U.S. Embassy official said. ''He's a POW. That's all I know.''

Israeli television reported last week that Noriega and Harari had been spotted together on Contadora, a resort island off Panama's Pacific coast.

Endara government spokesman Louis Martinz said Harari was arrested Wednesday night. ''Everyone is really delighted here,'' he said. ''It's big news. Second to Noriega, he was the most important person in Panama. He had tremendous influence on Noriega.''

Martinz said the United States had no reason to charge Harari, but that the Endara government would plan to prosecute him on as yet unspecified charges.

The embassy official said prisoners are being taken on the basis of a joint list put together by the U.S. and Endara governments of several hundred people wanted by either country or both. The official said 30 or 40 are wanted by the United States on drug-related charges, but that ''most are people the Panamanians want.'' He added that ''many already are POWs'' but more than 50 are at large.

Second Vice President Guillermo Ford indicated Thursday that the family of Hugo Spadafora, an opposition leader who was tortured and decapitated in 1985, seeks Noriega's prosecution on murder charges. Ford said Noriega ''must face justice'' in Panama or the United States. ''If he gets away and goes to a third country, he would be a permanent threat to us.''

The Southern Command said the last 24 hours were the most peaceful day since Noriega was ousted. For the first time since the invasion, the command reported no new American casualties and said its troops had engaged in no firefights. Only a few isolated sniping incidents were reported.

The U.S. casualty figure stood at 23 servicemen killed and 323 wounded, compared to 297 ''enemy forces'' killed and 123 wounded, the Southern Command said. It said U.S. troops have detained 5,126 people. The U.S. Embassy said about 300 Panamanian civilians had died in the fighting.

The number of captured weapons was reported to have topped 78,000, an enormous quantity that U.S. officials are still puzzling over.